Valve control for accordions



June 28, 1955 A. BRILL] VALVE CONTROL FOR ACCORDIONS Filed Sept. 26, 1950 INVENTOR'.

ALFREDO E u United States Patent VALVE CONTROL FOR ACCORDIONS Alfredo Brilli, Rivoli (Turin), Italy Application September 26, 1950, Serial No. 186,810

Claims priority, application Italy September 26, 1949 2 Claims. (Cl. 84-376) The present invention relates to accordions and more particularly to a novel arrangement of the reed chest in an accordion.

in the known accordions a register is formed by two series of reeds which require simultaneous tuning of two notes.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome this disadvantage by providing one series of reeds for a register.

It is another object of the present invention, to provide in a reed chest a partition formed with an opening over which a reed is arranged, and to arranged check valves in the reed chest in such a manner that air passes in only one direction over the reed.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a plurality of openings in the partition of the reed chest, and to arrange all reeds of the instriunent on the partition so that four check valves are sufiicient for actuating all reeds.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide manually operated valve means for each reed inside of the reed chest.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reed chest through which the air passes only in one direction during compression and expansion of bellows attached to the reed chest.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide in an accordion a reed chest consisting of an easily vibrating material and provided with membranes vibrating together with the reeds.

With these objects in view the present invention mainly consists in a reed chest in an accordion provided with a partition wall extending from one end wall of the reed chest to the other end wall of the reed chest so as to divide the reed chest in two chambers.

The partition wall is formed with a plurality of opening means, each opening means associated with a valve and with a reed.

Check valves operating in opposite directions are arranged in each of the chambers and permit air from bellows attached to the reed chest to enter one of the chambers, to pass through the opening in the partition so as to vibrate the reed, and to leave through the other of the chambers when the bellows are compressed or expanded.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic view partly in section of an accordion;

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-section through a reed chest showing the path of air during the compression stroke of the bellows; and

Fig. 3 is a schematic cross-section through the reed chest showing the path of air during the suction stroke of the bellows.

Referring now to Fig. l, the bellows 1 force air into and out of a reed chest comprising frame members 8 and 9 supporting membranes 10 and 11 which may consists of thin metal sheets, parchment, paper or any other material which easily vibrates. End walls 4' and side walls 4" forming a frame support a partition 4 which divides the reed chest into two chambers 2 and 5, respectively. Mounted on the partition 4 are reeds 3 which are actuated by air passing from chamber 2 into chamber 5 through openings 7 in the partition wall 4. On the other side of the partition wall 4 valves 6 are arranged, which, when operated, open the openings 7 for the passage of air. Actuating members 16 are provided which are connected to the keys, not shown, each actuating member cooperating with one of the valves 6 for moving the same between an open position and a position closing the associated opening '7.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, the reed chest is divided by the partition wall 4 into two chambers 2 and 5. Check valves 13 and 15 permit air to pass out of the chamber 5, while the check valves 12 and 14 permit air to enter chamber 2. A reed member 3 is arranged over the opening 7 in each partition.

The above described construction provides a register formed by only one series of reeds, all reeds being actuated in the same direction by the air forced by the bellows through the two chambers of the reed chest, only four check valves being provided on the reed chest.

The operation of the device is as follows:

During the compression stroke of the bellows, illustrated in Fig. 2, the air passes through check valve 12 into chamber 2, and through those openings 7 which are opened by the associated valve 6 into chamber 5, leaving the same through check valve 13. During the compression stroke check valves 14 and 15 are closed by the air pressure.

During the suction stroke of the bellows 1 the air enters chamber 2 through valve 14, and passes through those openings 7 which are opened by the associated valve 6 into the chamber 5 leaving the same through check valve 15. Check valves 12 and 13 are closed during the suction stroke of the bellows by the air pressure.

Consequently the reeds 3 are actuated during both strokes of the bellows in only one direction.

The registers of an arrangement according to the present invention may be mounted in different positions. It is contemplated to arrange them in a plane, side by side, or opposite to each other. Also, there may be more than one reed in each register and air may be forced through the reed chest by bellows or other pressure and suction meansv Each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of accordions.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a reed chest provided with one partition, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown since various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In an accordion or like musical instrument in combination a reed chest including a frame consisting of two opposite side walls and two opposite end walls, and two oppositely arranged membrane members arranged on top and on the bottom of said frame respectively so as to close said reed chest; a partition wall extending in said reed chest from one of said end walls to the other of said end walls and from one of said side walls to the other of said side walls betweensaid membrane members spaced from the same for dividing said reed chest into two chambers, said partition wall being formed with a plurality of opening means connecting said two chambers; a plurality of valve means arranged in said reed chest on one side of said partition wallin one of means for individually moving each of said valve means between said open and closing positions; a plurality of reed members located on the other side of said partition wall, and being mounted thereon in the other of said chambers, each reed member being arranged inthe region of at least one of said opening means; bellows means communicating with said one chamber; a first check valve means in said one end Wall and located in one of said chambers permitting air travel from said bellows means into said one chamber; a second check valve means in said one end wall located in the other of said chambers permitting air travel only from said other chamber into said bellows means; a third check valve means in the other of said two end walls in said one chamber communicating with the outside and permitting air travel only from the outside into said one chamber; and a forth check valve means in said other of said two end walls located in said other chamber communicating with the outside and permitting air travel only from said other chamber to the outside whereby air pressed by said bellows means through said first check valve means into said one of said chambers, and air sucked by said bellows means from the outside through said third check valve means into said one of said chambers passes in the same direction through those opening means in said partition wall whose associated valve means are in open position so as to actuate the reed member associated therewith and to cause swinging of said membrane members.

2. In an accordion or like musical instrument in combination a reed chest including a frame consisting of two opposite side walls and two opposite end walls, and two oppositely arranged membrane members arranged on top and on the bottom of said frame respectively so as to close saidreed chest; a partition wall extending in said reed chest from one of said end walls to the other of said end walls and from one of said side walls to the other of said side walls between said membrane members spaced from the same for dividing said reed chest into two chambers, said. partition wall being formed with a plurality of opening means connecting said two chambers; a plurality of valve means arranged in said reed chest on one side of said partition wall in one of said chambers, each valve means cooperating with at least one of said opening means and being movable between a closing position closing the associated opening means, and an open position permitting communication between said two chambers of said reed chest; manually operated actuating means cooperating with said valve means for indivdually moving each of said valve means between said open and closing positions; a plurality of reed members located on the other side of said partition wall, and. being mounted thereon in the other of said chambers, each reed member being arranged in the region of. at least one of said opening means; pressure and suction producing means communicating with one of said chambers; check valve means arranged in said reed chest in said one chamber permitting air to enter said one chamber and further check valve means in the other of said chamber permitting air to leave said other of said chambers whereby air forced by said pressure and suction producing means into said reed chest passes through those opening means in said partition wall whose associated valve means are in open position so as to actuate the reed members associated therewith and to cause swinging of said membrane members.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,003,953 Piatanesi June 4, 1935 2,230,162 Lidblom Ian. 28, 1941 2,295,588 Logli Sept. 15, 1942 2,640,384 Miessner June 2, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 104,584 Germany Aug. 2, 1899 46,428 Denmark Nov. 7, 1932 

